Importing a car

[Rock_Steady]

After years of waiting and searching for the right car, i thought i had found it yesterday only to be beaten to the punch while on the way to see it

 

I have conceded it would probably be easier just to import one. So, my question is:

 

Has anyone done it before and what company did you use?

 

I have had a look online and none of the sites seem to be too user friendly or give the price in $. I had a look at Newera and as i thought, they charge a king's ransom.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ekona]

What car are you after?

[coldel]

JMImports allows you free viewing of auctions, go to their website and navigate through to the auction bit

 

The usual suspects apply, Torque GT are well thought of as are JMI. Clearly though you might want to go for one that's close to your location...

[Rock_Steady]

What car are you after?

i have been after a decent example of a Nissan Pulsar GTi-R for a long long time. I found one a couple of days back. It was mint and standard. One owner and had been garaged for 11 years. low mileage, no rott. It was just down the road from me. i couldn't believe my luck. But, alas it was sold within 10 minutes of me getting in the car for a viewing. Needless to say i was royally pi**ed off. Edited September 26, 2016 by Rock_Steady

[Lexx]

JM Imports and Torque GT would be my preferred importers. Both offer a great service and will give you access to the auctions for you to browse yourself before getting too serious.

Both charge less than £1k for their services.

[Jetpilot]

Personally i would hold till the exchange rate comes back a bit, loosing 50 yen to the £ makes a fair bit of difference when your talking a few hundred thousand yen

[coldel]

Might be waiting a fair time...

[mouthwash]

Even though I didn't get my 32 through torque gt (wish I did) I can't recommend their customer service enough. Always kept me up to date and I was so fussy that most other places would have probably returned my money. Months down the line I was willing to take a punt on a cheaper one due to frustration but they decided for me that I didn't want it... it proves that they wanted to find the car I wanted rather than sell me the one I didn't.

 

Do not use dcy Europe.

[Jetpilot]

Might well be, but sounds like he was waiting a while anyway

[Lexx]

 

 

Do not use dcy Europe.

 

This.

I've had correspondence with them a few times, and even visited them on 2 separate occasions. I was disappointed with their customer service on all occasions and took my money elsewhere.

[-G-]

I found my 380RS on yahoo Japan car auctions by accident, I didn't even know what a 380RS was, I was perplexed that one particular Nismo Z33 was massively more expensive than all the others on offer. Once I identified what it was, researched it and decided I wanted it, I asked Rick from RaceCarParts on here, to get the car checked out. He did, quoted me for the purchase & deregistration of the car & then selected an agent in the UK to handle importing & IVA'ing the car (If it's under 10 years old)

 

Basically, JM imports, HJA, New Era etc all have someone in Japan to source cars for them, but finding examples yourself is possible via auction sites.

 

If you're serious about it, talk to Rick, Jurgen or Oz about the kind of car you want. I'd recommend looking around yourself first to get an idea of what to expect - bear in mind the £ is laughably weak against the ¥ at the moment.

 

[mouthwash]

Do not use dcy Europe.

 

This.

I've had correspondence with them a few times, and even visited them on 2 separate occasions. I was disappointed with their customer service on all occasions and took my money elsewhere.

 

Wish I had known what they were like before I got the car, I travelled so far for it that I took it (little did I realise what lay beneath). Fundamentally there isn't much wrong with the car but when they shove radweld in the radiator to hide a leak god knows what else they do.

 

Being the distance they were from me and the level to which they performed everything else required of them (not changing oil in a car sat for 9 years, underseal sprayed all over sideskirts/wheel arches/propshaft, bearings seized.... the list goes on) it was far safer to invest more money and make it decent.

[nowhereboy]

Do not use dcy Europe.

 

This.

I've had correspondence with them a few times, and even visited them on 2 separate occasions. I was disappointed with their customer service on all occasions and took my money elsewhere.

 

Wish I had known what they were like before I got the car, I travelled so far for it that I took it (little did I realise what lay beneath). Fundamentally there isn't much wrong with the car but when they shove radweld in the radiator to hide a leak god knows what else they do.

 

Being the distance they were from me and the level to which they performed everything else required of them (not changing oil in a car sat for 9 years, underseal sprayed all over sideskirts/wheel arches/propshaft, bearings seized.... the list goes on) it was far safer to invest more money and make it decent.

 

That's shocking! Very few importers about with any pride in what they do these days. It's a minefield out there at the minute.

[Ian]

Definitely use JM-Imports.

 

I've had about 5 cars from Jurgen now and cannot fault him one bit

[docwra]

Japaneseusedcars.com are also very good, been doing it longer than anyone else I know

[Payco]

Any views or feedback on Harlow Jap Autos ?

[-G-]

HJA are well respected, they were the original import agents for my car but they can't perform IVA's so it was transferred to Jurgen at JM. If you're after a car that is over 10 years old or more specifically a GTR - there's nobody better equipped in southern England than HJA.

Edited September 26, 2016 by -G-

[mouthwash]

Do not use dcy Europe.

 

This.

I've had correspondence with them a few times, and even visited them on 2 separate occasions. I was disappointed with their customer service on all occasions and took my money elsewhere.

 

Wish I had known what they were like before I got the car, I travelled so far for it that I took it (little did I realise what lay beneath). Fundamentally there isn't much wrong with the car but when they shove radweld in the radiator to hide a leak god knows what else they do.

 

Being the distance they were from me and the level to which they performed everything else required of them (not changing oil in a car sat for 9 years, underseal sprayed all over sideskirts/wheel arches/propshaft, bearings seized.... the list goes on) it was far safer to invest more money and make it decent.

 

That's shocking! Very few importers about with any pride in what they do these days. It's a minefield out there at the minute.

 

That's not the half of it. Car got through an MOT with these tyres (only one pictured but I have the others), plus numerous other failures with NO advisories:

 

 

Only found out after I drove it 300 odd miles home, I guess it's a bit stupid of me but with a fresh MOT I didn't think I needed to check the inside of the tyres.

 

They then proceeded to try and defend the MOT station like it was no big thing

[nowhereboy]

Jesus. Thats just outright dangerous. Not even sure how these places get away with it...

[Rock_Steady]

Wow! some shocking replies and some very insightful ones. Thank you for your input people. Food for thought.

 

i'm on the case! looking up JM and Harlow. i'll weigh up my options.

[nixy]

Definitely use JM-Imports.

 

I've had about 5 cars from Jurgen now and cannot fault him one bit

 

As above - my zed was the first ever imported by Jurgen in 2007! Faultless and seamless process right down to my private plate being fitted already when I collected it. He also arranged a leather re-trim for the seats. I am an absolute detail freak and over analyse everything - I researched Jurgen at the time via the Supra forums which is where he was most well known back then and I got great feedback which is why I used him. He has come a long long way since then! I would only ever consider using Jurgen if I imported again.